David Cannon Evans

Pioneer of computer generated imagery, Evans left an enduring mark on the history of computing. He attended the University of Utah and studied electrical engineering; he earned his doctorate degree in physics. He first worked at the Bendix aviation electronics company, where he acted as project manager in 1955 to develop what some describe as an early personal computer that ran on an interpretive operating system. The Bendix G-15 was a bulky unit about the size of a two-door refrigerator. Evans stayed with the company just long enough to manage the G-16 project.

Evans subsequently worked on the GENIE multi-user timesharing system while at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also appointed a member of the faculty. In addition, through his work at the Pentagon's Advanced Research Project Agency, he made key developments in the field of virtual memory. His first important works with graphics also dated from that period, when Evans did several experiments on an IDIOM display hooked up to a DEC PDP-5.